This thesis presents a groundbraking methodology for the radar international community. The detection approach introduced, namely perturbation analysis, is completey novel showing a remarkable capability of thinking outside the box. Perturbation analysis is able to push forward the performance limits of current algorithms, allowing the detection of targets smaller than the resolution cell and highly embedded in clutter. The methodology itself is extraordinary flexibe and has already been used in two other large projects, funded by the ESA (European Space Agency): M-POL for maritime surveillance, and DRAGON-2 for land classification with particular attention to forests. This book is a perfectly organised piece of work where every detail and perspective is taken into account in order to provide a comprehensive vision of the problems and solutions.

Autorentext
Best PhD theses 2011: RSPSoc (Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society)

Best poster: ASM'08 RSPsoc, 10-11 March 2008, Lyndhurst, New Forest, UK

Best paper: Electro Magnetic Remote Sensing Defence Technology Centre, EMRS-DTC'09,
24th-25th June 2009, Edinburgh, UK.

Best student paper (category Methods), Dragon-2 Symposium, 17th-21st May 2010, Guilin,
China

Best paper: Electro Magnetic Remote Sensing Defence Technology Centre, EMRS-DTC'10,
13th-14th July 2010, Edinburgh, UK.

Finalist for best student paper: IEEE International Geoscience & Remote Sensing Symposium,
IGARSS'10, 25 30 July, 2010, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Chair of poster session on Polarimetric Techniques, IEEE International Geoscience & Remote
Sensing Symposium, IGARSS'11, 24-29 July 2011, Vancouver, Canada.

Inhalt
Introduction.- Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR).- Radar Polarimetry.- Polarimetric Detector.- Polarimetric Detector Statistics.- Validation with airborne data.- Validation with satellite data.- Recent applications of perturbation filters.- Conclusions.- Appendices.